Edith Butler

1900-1925

(My maternal grandmother)

This is Edith aged about 1 year.

When I started my research into my family history I knew nothing about my maternal grandmother. The grandmother I had known and loved very much was my mother's stepmother. My grandmother was Edith Butler and all my mother knew was that she died at the age of 25 when her apron caught fire as she was dusting the mantlepiece at their home in Northfield Lane, Wickersley, Yorkshire on 26th September 1925. My mother was 3 years old at the time so does not remember her mother at all. When she was 5 years old her father remarried and he never spoke to her about her mother. She thinks this was because he loved her very much and it would upset him to talk about her. All she had was a few photographs which she has now given to me.

Edith was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire on 8th July 1900. She was the third child of Charles Henry and Everil Butler. Her parents both died before she was a year old and she was brought up by her father's family in Ravenfield, which is a small village near Rotherham in Yorkshire.

This is a photo of children at Ravenfield school dressed for a Christmas concert. I do not know which year it was but Edith, 2nd from the left standing, looks as though she could be anywhere between 10 and 14 years old. This would make the date between 1910 and 1914. I don't think it could be any later as I believe children did not stay on at school after the age of 14 at that time.

Edith married Herbert William Tirrell on 26th December 1920 at Ravenfield Parish Church. The photo below is of Herbert and Edith. Edith is not wearing any ring so it must have been taken prior to their marriage. May possibly have been for their engagement.

In researching this branch of my family tree I have found several early deaths. My great great grandmother, Eliza Butler (nee Mathews) died of tuberculosis at the age of 23 shortly after the birth of her second son. Her first son Charles Henry, my great grandfather, died of heart failure following broncho pneumonia the age of 38. Five months earlier his wife Everil (nee Stacey), age 31, had also died of heart failure following broncho pneumonia when their daughter Edith was 25 days old. The last in this line of untimely deaths was that of Edith at the age of 25.

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